Manuscript Location

Winterthur Library, Quaker and Special Collections

Place of Origin

United States ➔ Pennsylvania ➔ Philadelphia

Date of Composition

1759

Description

Elizabeth Byles was born in 1733, a daughter of the pewterer Thomas Byles. In 1771, she married her cousin William Ball (1729-1810), a son of Mary White and William Ball, who owned "Hope Farm" outside of Philadelphia. The younger William was a Philadelphia merchant and silversmith who sold a variety of goods in his shop in addition to gold and silver. He was Provincial Grand Master of the Masons in Pennsylvania (from 1761). The Balls had no children. After Elizabeth's death, William took over his father-in-law's pewter shop.

Elizabeth Byles [later Ball] began collecting recipes on loose sheets in 1759, inserting them in a commonplace book in which she recorded hymns and poems (including one about the celebrated minister George Whitefield). Most of the recipes are medical, but there are also recipes for food and drink such as beef a la mode, baked apple pudding, tart crust, puff paste, lemon cheesecakes, caudle, mead, and cider . Sometimes she noted from whom she collected the recipe.This book is part of a collection of Ball family papers, which also includes the younger William Ball's "Merchandise Journal," an inventory of his estate, bills of sale for slaves, and miscellaneous material about William and the Ball family.